Melvin L. Lesher

Melvin Lester Lesher, age 82, of Clarion, passed away Tuesday, September 27, 2005, at Wright Medical Center in Clarion.

A Funeral Service will be held 10:30 A.M. on Friday, September 30, 2005 at the United Methodist Church in Clarion, Iowa with Pastor Don Morrison officiating. Burial at Evergreen Cemetery in Clarion.

Visitation will be held Thursday September 29, 2005 from 5:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. at the Ewing Dugger Helgeson Funeral Home; 602 North Main Street, Clarion, Iowa, and one hour prior to the service at the church on Friday.

Melvin Lester Lesher was born on April 19, 1923 on his family’s farm three miles west of Clarion to Lawrence H. and Bernice C. (Bubeck) Lesher. He attended country school in Dayton Township and graduated from Clarion High School in 1940. He was among the signers of the original charter of the FFA, and played violin in the high school orchestra.

In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy to pursue his love of flying. Mel attended Navy Air Training at Northfield, Minnesota, Le Mars, Iowa City, Minneapolis, and Pensacola, Florida where he graduated from the Naval Air Training School and received his gold wings and commission as Ensign on March 27, 1945. He instructed in twin engines planes. He was separated from the service on April 19, 1946.

Melvin and Lois Buchwalter were married April 4, 1945 in the Methodist Church in Iowa City. To this union four children were born. Mel loved his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He enjoyed hearing from and about them.

He and Lois with the help of their children farmed for over forty years, retiring in 1989. Mel was a fifty year plus member of the First United Methodist Church of Clarion, the Masonic Lodge, and had been a long-time member of the Wright County Shiners and Shrine Mini Patrol and other Masonic affiliations. He was also a member of the American Legion. He had served as treasurer of the Lake Township Trustees, worked in the Auditors office and even sold encyclopedias to add to the farm income.

Surviving Mel is his wife of 60 years, Lois of Clarion; daughter, Melanie Sweeney and her husband Gary of Des Moines; son, David and his wife Carol of Clarion; daughter, Rhonda Dickerson of Omaha, Nebraska; daughter, Linda Rogers of Parkersburg; nine grandchildren, Jennifer Zaugg and her husband Kevin, Christopher Sweeney, Courtney Buckingham and her husband Jim, Kimberly and Kellie Lesher, Chad Dickerson and his wife Vanessa, Joe Dickerson and his wife Becky, Rachel and Austin Niederhauser; six great-grandchildren, Isaac and Gus Buckingham, Sydney and Ethan Dickerson, Ava Zaugg, and Brodyn Dickerson; two sisters, Beulah Lesher of Marion, Iowa and Gertrude Will of Irwin, Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lawrence and Bernice and one brother Orville Lesher.